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Sexual and Drug Use Risk Behaviors among Children and Youth in Street Circumstances in Porto Alegre, Brazil

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Abstract

We conducted a cross-sectional study to assess sexual and drug use risk in 161 children and youth in street circumstances in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Median age was 14 and 79% were male. Overall, 59% reported ever having had sex; a significantly higher proportion of males (66%) compared to females (30%). Overall, 39% reported illicit drug use in the last year, and only 1.2% reported injection drug use. In multivariate analyses, correlates of unsafe sex included younger age of sexual debut, and having a steady sex partner. Independent correlates of illicit drug use included lack of family contact, increased hours in the street daily, having had an HIV test, and older age. A high proportion of children and youth in street circumstances reported high risk sex and drug exposures, confirming their vulnerability to HIV/STD. Services Centers, such as where this research was carried out, offer an opportunity for interventions.

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Acknowledgements

Researchers (FTC, LNS, SHK, CAP) from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul were supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvovimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) in Brazil. Additional support for this project including for CEARGS, and researchers (MCR, JE, and KPS) was received from NIH/Fogarty Centers ICOHORTA Grant (1 D43 TW05799–03). We would like to acknowledge the contribution of Joana Plentz Marquadt, Renata Reis Barros, Carmela Tubino and Geraldine Fontana for assistance in data collection and entry. We also acknowledge Lúcia Martins Costa Bohmgahren, Luciana Rubensan Ourique, André de Carvalho Barreto and Cibele Machado for assistance in data entry. We gratefully acknowledge the participants, who were so generous with their time and enthusiasm while participating in this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Fernanda Torres de Carvalho, Lucas Neiva-Silva, Sílvia Helena Koller & Cesar Augusto Piccinini

  2. Centro de Estudos de AIDS e DST do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Mauro Cunha Ramos

  3. Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Jennifer Evans & Kimberly Page-Shafer

  4. Centro de Estudos Psicológicos de Meninos e Meninas em Situação de Rua—Instituto de Psicologia, UFRGS, Rua Ramiro Barcelos, 2600/104, Porto Alegre, CEP 90035–003,, Brazil

    Lucas Neiva-Silva

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  1. Fernanda Torres de Carvalho
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  7. Kimberly Page-Shafer
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Correspondence to Lucas Neiva-Silva.

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de Carvalho, F.T., Neiva-Silva, L., Ramos, M.C. et al. Sexual and Drug Use Risk Behaviors among Children and Youth in Street Circumstances in Porto Alegre, Brazil. AIDS Behav 10 (Suppl 1), 57–66 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-006-9124-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-006-9124-4

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